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Howard Kaloogian
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Kudos to columnist Michelle Malkin for noting our work in monitoring anti-war protest plans for the Republican National Convention.

Read her column CLICK HERE

Be sure to also read about the abusive treatment she received from MSNBC’s Chris Matthews.  Read that column by CLICKING HERE

Posted By:
Howard Kaloogian
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You can view our latest television ads online by CLICKING HERE

Posted By:
Howard Kaloogian
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The Real Iraq Story
Americans don’t often get the right picture out of Iraq.
By Karl Zinsmeister

How insightful is the Iraq reporting that you’ve been consuming? Take a little test.

If I tell you that scores of Iraqi detainees have been killed and maimed this year in Abu Ghraib prison, you may not be surprised. But you’re probably guessing wrong about who hurt them. The moronic American guards who are now on trial for improperly humiliating some Iraqis caused no deaths or injuries: The many casualties in the prison were all inflicted by Iraq’s guerilla terrorists.

During this spring’s frenzy of reporting on the plight of detainees at Abu Ghraib, I was surprised that none of the stories mentioned what anyone who has spent time at the prison (as I have) knows is the central danger to the prisoners there. By far the gravest threats to the Iraqis in that facility are the mortars and rockets that guerillas regularly lob into the compound — knowing full well that the main victims of their indiscriminate assaults will be fellow Iraqis. One attack on April 21 of this year, for instance, killed 22 detainees and injured another 91.

The number-one priority for Arabs and Americans concerned about the rights of Iraqi detainees, therefore, ought to be eliminating the merciless assaults of the terrorist insurgents. The sexual indignities imposed by the prison’s rogue guards would have to come second on any sensible list.

Shouldn’t the reporting on Abu Ghraib have provided some context along those lines? Wouldn’t a fuller media presentation of these facts on the ground in Iraq have given the public a better perspective on the various problems at the prison?

Or take another of the Iraq stories most loudly trumpeted in our media: the electricity shortages. You know Baghdad continues to suffer periodic blackouts — news reports remind us of that ad nauseum. Just one more example of U.S. ineffectiveness in this war: The generating system is broken and nothing gets fixed, right?

Wrong. Despite continuing efforts by guerillas to sabotage the grid, Iraq is now generating more electricity than existed in the country before the war. So why do we continue to hear about shortages? Two reasons:

First, Saddam shamelessly hogged the country’s electricity in his capital, shunting 57 percent to Baghdad while the provinces were starved for juice. Today, power is distributed fairly to all population centers, and Baghdad gets 28 percent of the total. Though that means occasional shortages in privileged neighborhoods unused to such things, Iraqis as a whole are better off.

Second, Iraq is in the midst of a consumer surge. The economy will grow an estimated 60 percent this year. Iraqis, who have flocked to cell phones and imported a million cars, are also snatching up washing machines, air conditioners, and electronic devices never before available to them. A third of the country now has satellite TV. Electricity demand is thus rising even faster than the steady increases in generation.

CLICK HERE to read the entire story from National Review Online

Posted By:
Howard Kaloogian
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This is a letter from Ray Reynolds, a medic in the Iowa Army National Guard, serving in Iraq:

As I head off to Baghdad for the final weeks of my stay in Iraq, I wanted to say thanks to all of you who did not believe the media. They have done a very poor job of covering everything that has happened. I am sorry that I have not been able to visit all of you during my two week leave back home. And just so you can rest at night knowing something is happening in Iraq that is noteworthy, I thought I would pass this on to you. This is the list of things that has happened in Iraq recently: (Please share it with your friends and compare it to the version that your paper is producing.)

* Over 400,000 kids have up-to-date immunizations.
* School attendance is up 80% from levels before the war.
* Over 1,500 schools have been renovated and rid of the weapons stored there so education can occur.
* The port of Uhm Qasar was renovated so grain can be off-loaded from ships faster.
* The country had its first 2 billion barrel export of oil in August.
* Over 4.5 million people have clean drinking water for the first time ever in Iraq.
* The country now receives 2 times the electrical power it did before the war.
* 100% of the hospitals are open and fully staffed, compared to 35% before the war.
* Elections are taking place in every major city, and city councils are in place.
* Sewer and water lines are installed in every major city.

CLICK HERE to read the entire report.

P.S. Here is a comment about this report from Ray Reynolds:

I did write it and I am in Kuwait now on my way home. I wrote it while at home because I felt that too many people were exploiting the violence in Iraq to sell papers and gain votes. Sometimes the silent majority need to be awakened to respond to the bad things in our world. I am passionate about our President’s decision and support this rebuilding whole heartedly...Yes legit..I am a fire fighter in Denison, Iowa and to verify, call Mike McKinnon of the Denison Iowa fire department.

Posted By:
Howard Kaloogian
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An interesting report by Staff Sgt. Jason Lake of the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs unit.  The first steps in building a trust (trust but verify comes to mind) between Iraqi and American pilots.

7/22/2004 - BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) —Two former enemies came together for lunch in the spirit of friendship July 20.

Six Iraqi air force pilots and 10 American pilots shared stories over lunch at a dining facility and then took pictures together in front of an F-16 Fighting Falcon here.

Despite speaking two vastly different languages, the pilots had no problems understanding each other. Like American pilots, the Iraqi pilots used hand gestures to describe the details of their adventures.

“There is a special language between us pilots,” said Col. Khaled Khadem, the former deputy commander at Balad Air Base before Operation Iraqi Freedom began. “We like to talk with our hands.”

CLICK HERE for the complete article.